I Admire Strong People

I would like to note that these reading assignments I've done for this week have been quite inspiring. I have found a great respect for these two people. These American heroes devoted their lives for other people and for their rights for generations to come. I have really grown to respect them – the more I read about them, the more fascinating they became. I commend these heroes for their passion, perseverance, and character.  I found myself reading their biographies and the things they have done; I've been staying up late watching documentaries and waking up early to read about Martin Luther King Jr. especially. Wow! I came to realize what people can do with incredible passion, it changes the world. Not only did their efforts change the world, but their speeches have been widely accepted as rhetorical masterpieces.

Martin Luther King Jr. and Sojourner Truth were undoubtedly catalysts in providing freedom and equality in America. Their speeches are familiar to most Americans. These speeches of change widely influenced the masses and had a great impact in American society and literature. Today, it is recognized as a masterpiece of rhetoric. I will be analyzing "I have a dream" by Martin Luther King Jr. and "Ain't I a Woman" by Sojourner Truth and making a comparisons between the two in terms of style, subject matter and the use of rhetoric.

Firstly I would like to note the similarities in the contentions made by the two speakers. Martin Luther King Jr. argued that the current state of Negroes were limited and he called for racial equality and an end to discrimination. Sojourner Truth proposed the similar argument of equal rights towards blacks, and especially women. Both did a amazing job on using repetition as a tool of persuasion. Both used anaphora (a rhetoric device, using the same introductory words repeatedly in neighboring clauses) to emphasis their points. Repetition is a strong tool to use, especially when you are trying to deliver your point with greater emphasis. Martin Luther King used anaphora constantly throughout his speech, this makes the speech more memorable and compelling. Just to illustrate how repetition makes anything more memorable- we've all listened to the radio and we have our favorite songs. What part of the song is most memorable? It's not the verses usually, but the repeating chorus that repeats two or three times throughout the song. The chorus of a song is very memorable, it's what we remember the most; we are comfortable with repeating lines for greater emphasis. Sojourner's speech “Ain't I a Woman?”, also had great use of repetition that got the crown on her side with her roaring voice and passion.

It is amazing what passion can lead to. These two great activists saw the world as it is and did not sit there silently. Their voices roared with passion and drew the world to a change. They shared the emotional difficulties they had faced, the police brutality, daily discrimination, and feeling of inferiority. They related to their audience with religion, and brought people together, and opened their eyes to reality.

They are really inspirational characters that literally changed the world. I am disgusted by racism; black or white, blue or purple, we're all the same. I've grown to admire these heroes of America. I feel blessed from what they have done, I am forever grateful for their efforts to bring our nation to one. For my life and my future kids and all my loved ones. Life is good.

i cant reed or rite

I never really thought of what it would be like to be illiterate. I could not think of an activity that did not include reading and writing. So the very thought of being illiterate is a scary thing for me. Take away my literacy, I basically inhibit myself from intellectual growth. I believe reading and writing is the basis of learning. The ability to obtain knowledge everyday from reading is something I took for granted. But now I realize after brainstorming a list of things I could not do if I were illiterate....

A day without the adaquate skills of reading and writing will probably be like this:

•  I have to go get groceries, but I can't read the road signs that leads to the grocery store - I starve.
•  Need to do blog for my English 103 class, I can't type - I fail.
•  Need to respond to girlfriends text; I can't reply back - girlfriend gets mad, and dumps me
•  I'm starving because I couldn't go to the grocery store, I try to make my own food, but I can not read the instructions -I starve more.
• I log on Facebook to update my status, but I can't express feelings - I lose friends.

Well maybe this is a little much, but you get the point, its hard to do everyday tasks without the proper writing and reading skills. The two main things that will probably affect me if I were to lose my ability to read and write is the ability to obtain knowledge from what I read everyday. And secondly, it will be harder for me to express my self the way I do without the ability to write.

Gaining knowledge from reading is something every student probably took for granted. Because reading to me is like breathing, I was fortunate enough to learn the language skills I have at a young age. Its easy to take for granted because it seems natural for most people. If you think about the idea of not having the set of skills to read a text book, phone book, newspaper, internet articles – imagine how much information you are potentially missing out on. Language is a powerful thing. It is what connects your mind and your expression and can lead to gateways of priceless information.

Try imagining expressing yourself, but cannot read or write. You cannot talk to your family, your loved one, your boss, your teacher. This can greatly affect your life. Expression through writing is very powerful, as you can see from this week's essay assignments. Helen Keller learned certain emotions through descriptive words of how she felt. Malcolm X found freedom through his words by expressing his mind the way he wanted to.

The thought of being illiterate is quite humbling, I came to a realization that literacy should not be taken for granted. It is a powerful skill that greatly improves expression and learning.

I'm beginning to enjoy blogging, it's the perfect way to reflect through your own thoughts and learn stuff about you. I learned quite a few today about my self..

Critical Thinking

“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” This quote from Siddhārtha Gautama (or more familiarly known as Buddha) exemplifies the basis of critical thinking. Critically thinking opens up your mind and liberates your thinking from the dangerous but very common mind-sets.

To illustrate, how often do we hear students say “Why does it have to be an essay test?! Why can't it be a multiple choice test? A true or false?”. This is just one of many examples of how people are comfortable being ignorant; students commonly avoid the task of actually knowing, people are satisfied with taking in the least information possible just to “get by”.

My point is, most of us would rather accept easy tasks that traps us in an illusion that we actually know something as opposed to real knowledge. Critically thinking is a powerful skill to have in life. Personally, thinking critically is a means of questioning particular claims that is presented to you and applying your own experience and reasoning along with it. I tend to question whether the text I'm reading is either logical or illogical, rational or irrational. Or simply put, I ask myself it really make sense to me.

Habitually, when reading and writing critically, I try to have an open mind and free myself from any subconscious beliefs and any prejudicial thoughts that could lead me to the wrong direction. I frequently ask myself if I see the bigger picture and if any of the claims relate to my own understanding of what is rational, logical or efficient.

I try to incorporate critical thinking in all aspects of my life, I do so because I think it's the healthy way of living and its important for any type of growth; Whether it involves analyzing politics, the media, academic work, or professional endeavors, I try to regularly be an active thinker and have something to say.

I personally, constantly analyze the media, I think it has a major role of influencing many people and it causes many social norms nowadays. The media is in part, responsible for creating the norms for social expectations and behaviors. In my opinion this could possibly be potentially dangerous.

When critically thinking around politics, I usually ask questions like “Who's argument is better and who's point of view is more appealing to me?”. Admittedly, I don't follow too much on politics. However, from the little experience I have, I'll a make a strong assumptions that our government isn't what it claims to be. I think that our government is in complete control of most issues and we the people, have little influence over these choices.

When critically thinking around academics, I frequently ask “Why is that? And “How?”. I apply critical thinking to academics mostly, I think its the key to gaining the most out of your classes.

I genuinely look forward to this class, I believe critically thinking and analyzing can improve many aspects of people's lives. I think the best way to develop stronger critical thinking skills it to basically keep practicing. This class is the perfect opportunity for me to practice on a daily basis, and hope to get the most out of this class.